1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vascular shunt for use in surgical procedures for diverting blood flow from an aorta into a plurality of different arteries, each of which carries blood to a different organ in the human body.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, vascular shunts have been utilized in surgical procedures for by-passing a section of a main artery. Such vascular shunts channel blood flow from the heart into a tubular passageway past a section of an artery upon which surgery is to be performed. The blood is reintroduced into the same or a different artery at a downstream location, thereby by-passing a portion of the artery to enable that portion to be surgically repaired. For example, one such conventional shunt is sold as the Pruitt-Inahara "T" Carotid Shunt under U.S. Pat. No. 3,435,824.
Conventional shunt devices which have heretofor been available have been designed to receive blood flow at a single inlet from an arterial source and to divert that flow to a single outlet, such as the same artery at a downstream location or to blood processing equipment. During conventional surgical procedures such as operations to correct thoracal abdominal aneurysms, major organs of the body which process arterial blood, such as the bowels, kidneys, liver, spleen and spinal arteries are clamped off. However, if these organs are clamped off for an inordinately long time, they will be damaged. Indeed, a kidney is likely to be damaged if it is deprived of arterial blood for a period of about one hour. Damage to a kidney due to lack of arterial blood is oftentimes irreversible and the kidney will thereafter become useless. If this occurs, the patient has to be on dialysis for the remainder of his life. Naturally, surgical procedures which involve prolonged clamping off of the arterial blood supply to major organs are not normally undertaken, except in the most dire emergencies. However, surgical operations which involve clamping off major organs that are normally completed within a short period of time are sometimes subject to complications. Such complications lengthen the duration of the surgery, and can result in death or permanent organ damage where arteries to the kidneys and other major organs are left in a clamped condition and deprived of oxygenated blood for too long a period of time.
Hertofore, the dangers of kidney damage, and damage to other internal body organs which can result from prolonged clamping off of arterial blood supplies, have been accepted as necessary risks in surgical procedures. As a result, complications during surgery have occurred, and continue to occur, utilizing conventional surgical techniques and conventional arterial clamping devices.